Tony Leondis

Tony Leondis
Birth name	Anthony Leondis
Born	(1972-03-24) March 24, 1972
Birth place	New York City, New York, U.S.
Alma mater	Hellenic College
Occupation	Director, screenwriter, animator, voice actor
Years active	1997–present

Anthony Leondis (born March 24, 1972) is a Greek-American filmmaker, known for being the director of The Emoji Movie, Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch, Igor, and the unreleased DreamWorks Animation feature film, B.O.O.: Bureau of Otherworldly Operations. He was also a writer from Kronk's New Groove. He won two Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Director and Screenplay, however, he was nominated for Best Director and Screenplay from Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch and Best Writer in Kronk's New Groove, and also was the director for Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters, voicing Master Croc, which proved to be his better-known work.

Career

Leondis started his career as a story artist working on films such as The Prince of Egypt and The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. He later joined DisneyToon Studios, where he co-wrote the script for Kronk's New Groove. Leondis made his directorial debut on Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch in 2005. In 2008, he directed his first theatrical animated film, Igor, for Exodus Film Group.

Since 2009, he was directing at DreamWorks Animation an animated feature film about ghosts, titled B.O.O.: Bureau of Otherworldly Operations. The film, which was based on his original idea, was scheduled to be released in 2015, but by late 2014, it was pulled from DWA's schedule and went back into restructuring. By 2015, Leondis left DreamWorks to develop his next animated film, while B.O.O. is left dead at the studio.

The Emoji Movie

In 2017, Leondis directed and co-wrote Sony Pictures Animation's animated film The Emoji Movie, about emojis. Leondis pitched the film to the studio and co-wrote it with Eric Siegel.

The film was released on July 28, 2017. Though the film was a box-office success, it was panned by critics. He won two Razzie Awards for Worst Director and Worst Screenplay, the latter he shared with Eric Siegel and Mike White, making him the first animation director in motion picture history to get those categories.

2017–present

Following the failure of The Emoji Movie, Leondis has expressed some interest in pursuing live-action filmmaking. In an interview with IGN Greece, Leondis said,

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Personal life

Leondis is gay.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Animation department	Voice actor	Role	Notes
1998	The Lion King II: Simba's Pride			Yes			Direct-to-video Additional character designer
	The Prince of Egypt			Yes			Story artist
2000	The Road to El Dorado			Yes			Additional story artist
2004	Home on the Range			Yes			Story artist
2005	Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch	Yes	Yes				Direct-to-video
	Kronk's New Groove		Yes
2008 2009 || Igor Big City Greens the Movie: Spacecation (2009 film)||style="background:#9F9;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-yes"|Yes||style="background:#9F9;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-yes"|Yes|| ||style="background:#9F9;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-yes"|Yes|| Killiseum Fan #4 Additional Voices	Additional screenplay material
2011	Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters	Yes			Yes	Master Croc	Video short
2017	The Emoji Movie	Yes	Yes		Yes	Laughter, Broom, Pizza
2018	The JH Movie Collection Movie		Yes				First Movie Land Animation Studios film
Unreleased	B.O.O.: Bureau of Otherworldly Operations	Yes	Yes				Wrote the story

Television

Year	Title	Special thanks	Notes
1997	Cartoon Sushi	Yes	Episode #1.4

Awards and nominations

Ceremony	Film/TV Show	Category	Year	Result
Razzie Awards	The Emoji Movie	Worst Director	2018	Won
		Worst Screenplay
Annie Awards	Kronk's New Groove	Best Writing In An Animated Feature Production	2006	Nominated
DVD Exclusive Awards	Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch	Best Director (of a DVD Premiere Movie)
		Best Screenplay (for a DVD Premiere Movie)

External links

• Tony Leondis on IMDb

Template:Tony Leondis

v - e - dGolden Raspberry Award for Worst Director
1980s Robert Greenwald – Xanadu (1980) Michael Cimino – Heaven's Gate (1981) Ken Annakin – The Pirate Movie / Terence Young – Inchon (1982) Peter Sasdy – The Lonely Lady (1983) John Derek – Bolero (1984) Sylvester Stallone – Rocky IV (1985) Prince – Under the Cherry Moon (1986) Norman Mailer – Tough Guys Don't Dance / Elaine May – Ishtar (1987) Blake Edwards – Sunset / Stewart Raffill – Mac and Me (1988) William Shatner – Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)
1990s John Derek – Ghosts Can't Do It (1990) Michael Lehmann – Hudson Hawk (1991) David Seltzer – Shining Through (1992) Jennifer Lynch – Boxing Helena (1993) Steven Seagal – On Deadly Ground (1994) Paul Verhoeven – Showgirls (1995) Andrew Bergman – Striptease (1996) Kevin Costner – The Postman (1997) Gus Van Sant – Psycho (1998) Barry Sonnenfeld – Wild Wild West (1999)
2000s Roger Christian – Battlefield Earth (2000) Tom Green – Freddy Got Fingered (2001) Guy Ritchie – Swept Away (2002) Martin Brest – Gigli (2003) Pitof – Catwoman (2004) John Asher – Dirty Love (2005) M. Night Shyamalan – Lady in the Water (2006) Chris Sivertson – I Know Who Killed Me (2007) Uwe Boll – In the Name of the King, Postal, and Tunnel Rats (2008) Michael Bay – Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
2010s M. Night Shyamalan – The Last Airbender (2010) Dennis Dugan – Jack and Jill and Just Go with It (2011) Bill Condon – The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (2012) Elizabeth Banks, Steven Brill, Steve Carr, Rusty Cundieff, James Duffy, Griffin Dunne, Peter Farrelly, Patrik Forsberg, Will Graham, James Gunn, Bob Odenkirk, Brett Ratner, and Jonathan van Tulleken – Movie 43 (2013) Michael Bay – Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) Josh Trank – Fantastic Four (2015) Dinesh D'Souza and Bruce Schooley – Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party (2016) Tony Leondis – The Emoji Movie (2017) Etan Cohen – Holmes & Watson (2018) Tom Hooper – Cats (2019)
2020s Sia – Music (2020/21) Christopher Ashley – Diana the Musical (2021)

v - e - dGolden Raspberry Award for Worst Screenplay
1980–1999 Bronte Woodard and Allan Carr – Can't Stop the Music (1980) Frank Yablans, Frank Perry, Tracy Hotchner, and Robert Getchell – Mommie Dearest (1981) Robin Moore and Laird Koenig – Inchon (1982) John Kershaw, Shawn Randall, and Ellen Shephard – The Lonely Lady (1983) John Derek – Bolero (1984) Sylvester Stallone, James Cameron, and Kevin Jarre – Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz – Howard the Duck (1986) Jonathan Reynolds and Bill Cosby – Leonard Part 6 (1987) Heywood Gould – Cocktail (1988) Eddie Murphy – Harlem Nights (1989) Daniel Waters, James Cappe, and David Arnott – The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990) Steven E. de Souza, Daniel Waters, Bruce Willis, and Robert Kraft – Hudson Hawk (1991) Blake Snyder, William Osborne, and William Davies – Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992) Amy Holden Jones – Indecent Proposal (1993) Tom S. Parker, Jim Jennewein, Steven E. de Souza, and various others – The Flintstones (1994) Joe Eszterhas – Showgirls (1995) Andrew Bergman – Striptease (1996) Eric Roth and Brian Helgeland – The Postman (1997) Joe Eszterhas – An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1998) Jim Thomas, John Thomas, S. S. Wilson, Brent Maddock, Jeffrey Price, and Peter S. Seaman – Wild Wild West (1999)
2000–2019 Corey Mandell and J. David Shapiro – Battlefield Earth (2000) Tom Green and Derek Harvie – Freddy Got Fingered (2001) George Lucas and Jonathan Hales – Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002) Martin Brest – Gigli (2003) Theresa Rebeck, John Brancato, Michael Ferris, and John Rogers – Catwoman (2004) Jenny McCarthy – Dirty Love (2005) Leora Barish and Henry Bean – Basic Instinct 2 (2006) Jeffrey Hammond – I Know Who Killed Me (2007) Mike Myers and Graham Gordy – The Love Guru (2008) Ehren Kruger, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci – Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) M. Night Shyamalan – The Last Airbender (2010) Steve Koren, Adam Sandler, and Ben Zook – Jack and Jill (2011) David Caspe – That's My Boy (2012) Steve Baker, Ricky Blitt, Will Carlough, Tobias Carlson, Jacob Fleisher, Patrik Forsberg, Will Graham, James Gunn, Claes Kjellstrom, Jack Kukoda, Bob Odenkirk, Bill O'Malley, Matthew Alec Portenoy, Greg Pritikin, Rocky Russo, Olle Sarri, Elizabeth Wright Shapiro, Jeremy Sosenko, Jonathan van Tulleken, and Jonas Wittenmark – Movie 43 (2013) Darren Doane and Cheston Hervey – Saving Christmas (2014) Kelly Marcel – Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) Chris Terrio and David S. Goyer – Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) Tony Leondis, Eric Siegel, and Mike White – The Emoji Movie (2017) Niall Leonard – Fifty Shades Freed (2018) Lee Hall and Tom Hooper – Cats (2019)
2020–present Tomasz Klimala, Barbara Białowąs, Tomasz Mandes, and Blanka Lipińska – 365 Days (2020/21) Joe DiPietro and David Bryan – Diana: The Musical (2021)